Population: Zero
101 Debrief When all 23 residents of the small town of Norris appear to have died simultaneously from an unknown cause, Steve Austin dons a spacesuit and ventures into the town to investigate. He soon discovers that everyone was only unconscious and the cause is eventually identified as being high frequency sound waves. The source of these is soon revealed: deranged former OSI employee Dr Stanley Bacon is embittered that the OSI failed to continue his work into the military benefits of using high frequency sound waves to immobilise enemy forces. He demands a $10 million ransom and threatens to use his technology to kill people if his terms are not met. The government refuses to pay up believing that the sound waves cannot be fatal. However, anticipating that this will not be the case – as is soon confirmed – Steve defies the orders of Oscar Goldman and surrenders himself empty handed to Dr. Bacon and his men. Imprisoned in -20c conditions in a walk-in freezer, Steve has precious little time to escape and stop Bacon from carrying out his murderous intentions. Credits Season 1, Episode 1 * Production Number: 40013 * Airdate: January 18th, 1974 * Executive Producer: Harve Bennett * Produced by: Sam Strangis and Donald R. Boyle * Written by: Elroy Schwartz * Director: Jeannot Szwarc Guest Stars * Richard Anderson - Oscar Goldman * Penny Fuller - Dr. Chris Forbes * Don Porter - Dr. Stanley Bacon * Paul Carr - Paul Cord * Paul Fix - Joe Taylor * Walter Brooke - General Harland Tate * Morgan Jones - Major Phillips * Colby Chester - Joe Hollister * John Elerick - Corporal Ed Presby * Virginia Gregg - Mrs. Nelson * Stuart Nisbet - Harry Johnson * Bob Delegall - 1st Technician * David Valentine - Teletype Operator * Mike Santiago - Frank Quotes Dr. Forbes: (in regard to his being bionic) Steve, how has it affected you? What does it feel like? Steve Austin: (dripping with sarcasm) It feels just peachy, Doctor! ---- Dr. Bacon: (menacingly to Steve Austin) I will reduce you to a six million dollar pile of junk. Trivia *This episode marks the first consistent use of a slow-motion effect, to indicate Steve Austin is moving at bionic speed. Slow-motion was used in the prior movies as well, but not consistently. The slow-motion effect becomes a series trademark from this point forward. *The story for this episode is remarkably similar to the 1971 Universal Studios film The Andromeda Strain, in certain respects. Both feature a small town whose entire population has apparently died, the cause initially unknown. Both also feature someone investigating the town while wearing an isolation suit (in this story, Steve Austin), to protect the investigator from any undiscovered hazard. *The story for The Bionic Woman episode The Deadly Missiles shares some superficial similarities with this episode. Both episodes feature sonar/jammer devices. Both feature the protagonist's bionics not working correctly for a time. And both show the protagonist ripping a metal pole out of the ground, and flinging it at said sonar/jammer. In fact, select footage of the metal pole being ripped from the ground and thrown in this episode, is used in The Deadly Missiles. *This episode establishes that bionics no longer function correctly, in cold temperatures. (Below 32°F or 0°C.) This limitation is also demonstrated in The Six Million Dollar Man episodes Hocus-Pocus, Bigfoot V, and Dark Side of the Moon, along with The Bionic Woman episode The Martians Are Coming, the Martians Are Coming. *Another fact established by this episode, is that Austin's bionics give off trace amounts of radiation. This radiation is picked up by a geiger counter used by Dr. Bacon on an unconscious Austin, thereby revealing the artificial nature of his limbs. The same situation would apply to Jaime Sommers. Nitpicks *The idea that bionics immediately begin to malfunction when the temperature starts to drop below 32°F or 0°C, does not make sense. Using logical deduction, certain conclusions exposing the fallacy of this idea can be made. **The bionic limbs operate on atomic power. This is established in the pilot, The Six Million Dollar Man. While heat from fissionable material — either Uranium-235 or Plutonium-239, which are readily available — is used to generate electricity to power the limbs: the majority of that heat is actually wasted. Neither a generator nor a thermocouple would be 100% efficient in converting the heat to electricity. **Other inefficiencies would create additional heat. These would consist of resistance in the electronic components and wires, and minimal friction in the joints and other mechanical components. **Heatsinks are shown inside the bionic limbs, whenever internal bionics are exposed in episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman. A notable example is in The Bionic Woman episode Kill Oscar. An electric charge strikes Steve Austin's bionic arm, damaging it. The exposed area, clearly shows a heatsink. The purpose of a heatsink, is to absorb and radiate heat from electronics, in order to keep them functioning properly. This heat would be transferred to the air inside the cavity of the arm, and even the "plastiskin" (as it is referred to in the Martin Caidin Cyborg novels) sheath. **This waste heat would keep the bionic limbs warm. The heat would also be used to imitate the warmth of real human skin, whenever someone touches a bionic limb. The plastiskin would also act as an insulator and restrict the emission of the waste heat. **Therefore, we can conclude that the limbs would be kept warm enough to function correctly in the cold — at least for a time. For them to begin failing almost immediately, is not credible whatsoever. Only extreme cold should have that effect, and even then not right away. In fact: Austin or Sommers could die of exposure to extreme cold, before their bionics fail. **The opposite problem should have been true. Exposure to heat could cause the bionics to fail, because they would not be able to get rid of excess heat as easily. Which would mean that in such cases as the desert scenes in The Six Million Dollar Man pilot and The Bionic Boy, Austin's bionics should have malfunctioned. *The idea that Austin's and Sommers' bionics give off a constant amount of low-level radiation, is not sensible. Why would Dr. Rudy Wells not make the radiation shielding of the bionic limbs (the shields are mentioned in the episode Run, Steve, Run), such that they would block all radiation? First, the radiation emitted, immediately raises suspicion about Austin's and Sommers' nature. Second, constant low-level emissions are unhealthy for Austin and Sommers, as well as any friends or relatives they are continually in contact with. *When Dr. Bacon uses the geiger counter on Austin, it also gives a reading when held over his head. This indicates an atomic power source for the eye. First, how could even a thermocouple powered by a fissionable pellet, fit inside his head? Second, once again the radiation emitted would be dangerous to Austin: especially so close to his brain. Scenes Deleted In Syndication